Apparatus for joining multi-strand cables

ABSTRACT

Connectors are secured to matching ends of conductors of two multi-conductor jacketed cables by simultaneously moving matching pairs of dies together. A pair of matching dies is provided for each set of matching ends of conductors. One die of each pair is mounted on a pressure plate and the other dies are mounted on a housing above the pressure plate. The pressure plate is moved upwardly by a fluid motor to crimp the connectors on the conductors. To enable a variety of sizes and constructions of cables to be spliced the dies are removably mounted on die retainers which are also removably attached to the housing and pressure plate.

United States Patent [1 1 Abarotin et al. 1 Nov. 6, 1973 [54] APPARATUS FOR JOINING MULTI-STRAND 3,328,871 7/1967 Over 29/203 CABLES 3,438,407 4/1969 Over 140/111 3,594,887 7/1971 Over 29/203 D [75] Inventors: Eugene V. Abarotin, Franklin Twp., 2 52 717 10 1950 w i b 29 203 Westmoreland; Edward R. Bollinger, 3,559,698 2/1971 Smith 29/203 Jr., Delmont Borough, both of Pa, 3,344,499 10/1967 Cowscrt 29/203 [73] Assignee: United States Steel Corporation,

Pittsburgh Primary ExammerCharles W. Lanham Assistant Examiner-James R. Duzan [22] Filed: Mar. 16, 1972 Atmmey Rea Helm [21] Appl. No.: 235,181

. [57] ABSTRACT [52] 29/628 29/203 29/203 Connectors are secured to matching ends of conduc- 29/629 29/630 72/404 72/416 tors of two multi-conductor jacketed cables by simulta- [51] ll'lt. Cl H01l'43/00 neously matching pairs ofdies togethcn A pair [58] Fleld of Search 29/203 D, 203 P, of matching dies is provided for each set f matching 29/203 630 630 203 ends of conductors. One die of each pair is mounted on 630 630 A; 72/402 416 a pressure plate and the other dies are mounted on a housing above the pressure plate. The pressure plate is [56] References C'ted moved upwardly by a fluid motor to crimp the connec- UNITED STATES PATENTS. tors on the conductors. To enable a variety of sizes and 3,239,924 3/1966 Wagner 29/203 nstru ti ns f a l s t be spliced the dies are re- 1,319,837 10/1919 Brinkman movably mounted on die retainers which are also re- 3,639,977 2/1972 Over 29/628 movably attached to the housing and pressure plate. 3,641,650 2/1972 Folk 29/203 D 2,727,236 12/1972 Klumpp 1/177 4 Claims, 12 Drawing Figures 92\ I; as 90 Q 92 46 i- -r C3 15-3 r 1 L 1 H ,//6 L Ii b PATENTEDNUV BIHTS 3159mm,

SHEET 20F 4 FIG. 3.

PATENIEDimv 6 1973 8,769,704 SHEET 30F 4 FIG. 6'.

PATENTED NOV 6 I975 SHEET u BF 4 APPARATUS FOR JOINING MULTI-STRAND CABLES This invention relates to a method and apparatus for joining multi-strand cables and more particularly for simultaneously joining conductor ends of multiconductor electric cables during a splicing operation. Before the conductors are joined a part of the cable jacket is removed and the conductors, including the ground leads, are cut to proper length and the insulation removed from the conductors. Two conductor ends with the same polarity are then inserted into a copper sleeve or the like and the ends of the sleeve crimped so as to join the previously severed conductors. Prior to our invention the crimping was commonly done with hand tools with the conductors being connected successively and not simultaneously. The operation of these hand tools was normally based on a fixed final configuration of crimp without regard to variations in the wall thickness and volume of the connectors being crimped. This often leads to insufficient pull out strength of the joint or to excessive reduction in the cross section of the conductor with resultant early fatigue failure. Also, unequal lengths of the crimped conductors in the same cable often occurred with resultant early failure of the shortest conductor since it carried the whole load applied to the cable.

It is therefore an object of our invention to provide a device that simultaneously joins two or more conductors..

Another object is to provide such a device which results in substantially constant pull out strength of all the joined conductors in the cable.

A further object is to provide such a device which can be readily adapted to crimp conductors of various sizes and shapes.

A still further object is to provide such a device which is easy to operate and maintain. 7

Still another object is to provide a method of connecting matching ends of two conductors of two multiconductor cables.

These and other objects will be more apparent after referring to the following specification and attached drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is an end elevation of our device;

FI 2 i a iewtaken.o lhqlibskll 9 P19- FIG. 3 is a view taken on the line III-III of FIG.'1;

FIG. 4 is a bottom plan view of the upper die assembl FIG. 5 is a perspective view of a bottom conductor die;

FIG. 6 is a perspective view of the bottom ground conductor die; Y

FIG. 7 is a perspective view of the top ground conductor die;

FIG. 8 is a top plan view of our device including the guides;

FIG. 9 is an end elevation of FIG. 8;

FIG. I0 is a view of two cable ends to be joined;

FIG. 1 l is a view of the ground conductor connector; and FIG. 12 is a view of the joined cable ends.

Referring more particularly to the drawings, reference numeral 2 indicates the top of the cart or table on which our device is mounted. Mounted on top of the table 2 is a bottom crimper housing 4. This includes a base portion 6 which rests on the table top 2 and which has a hole 8 therethrough at each of its four corners for receiving a bolt 10. A bed plate 12 is positioned below the bottom of the table top 2 and is provided with holes 14, one in alignment with each of the holes 8. A bolt 10 passes through each hole 8, through a hole 16 in table top 2 and through the aligned hole 14 with a nut 18 being threaded on thebottorn of the bold l0 so as to hold the parts assembled. Asshown in FIG. 3 the housing 4 is provided .with a threaded opening 20 for receiving a fluid cylinder 22 having a piston rod 24slidably mounted therein. A pressure plate 26 is secured to the top of piston rod 26 and is received in the unthreaded top portion of opening 20. The housing 4 includes two pairs of spaced apart upwardly extending lugs 28. Each pair of lugs 28 has aligned holes 30 there: through and an opening 32 therebetween. An upper housing 34 has two sets of three spaced apart lugs 36. Each set of lugs 36 has aligned holes 38 therethrough with the lugs in each set spaced apart so as to receive lugs 28. A pin 42 passes through aligned holes 30 and 38 of one set of top and bottom lugs and a similar pin 44 having a pin handle 46 at one end is removably posi tioned in the aligned holes 30 and 38 of the other set of top and bottom lugs.

Fastened to the top of pressure plate 26 by means of capscrews 48 (FIG; 2) is a bottom die retainer 50 having three slots 52, 54 and 56 therein arranged at an angle 58 of 84. to the longitudinal center lineyHoles 60, 62 and 64 are provided in slots 52, 54 and 56, respectively, to receive capscrews 66, 68 and 70, respectively. Conductor dies '72 are received in slots 52 and 56 and are held in place by means of the capscrews 66 and 70 threaded through holes 74 in the die 72 and into the holes 60 and 64. Each of the dies 72 has spaced apart upwardly extending lugs 76 with aligned cylindrical grooves 78 in the top thereof. Spaced apart vertical pins 80 extend upwardly between the lugs 76. A ground lead bottom or femal die 82 is held in position in slot 54 by means of the capscrew 68 threaded through hole 84 in the bottom of the die 82 and into the hole 62. The die 82 has a longitudinal groove 86 in the top thereof.

The top housing 34 (FIG. 1) has a groove 88 therein for receiving upper dieretainer 90 which is secured to housing 34 by means of capscrews 92. The die retainer 90 (FIG. 4) is essentially opposite hand to die block 50 and has slots 92, 94 and 96 therein arranged above the slots 52, 54 and 56, respectively. Conductor dies 98 which are identical with dies 72, except for the pins 80 are secured in slots 92 and 96 in the same manner as dies 72 are secured to bottom die retainer 50. An upper or male die 100 is secured in slot 94 in the same manner as bottom die 82. The die 100 has a downward projection 102 of such width that it. can be received in groove 86 with the bottom thereof having an arcuate longitudinal groove 1 04 therein.

A cable guide trough 106 (FIGS. 8 and 9) is attached to each end of a mounting plate 107 by means of countersunk screws 108. A clamp 110 is mounted on each end of the mounting plate and extends over guide trough 106.

Assuming that the cables C to be connected have two insulated conductors S and S, and a ground conductor wire W, the ends of the cables are prepared by removing the outer jacket J from the ends of the cable and removing the insulation from a short portion of the ends of the conductors S and S as shown in FIG. 10. The

ground wires W of each cable extend from its jacket J ductor S of one cable C is longer than the bared-length of conductor S of the other cable with the reverse being true of the bared lengthsof insulated conductors S With the cable ends so prepared one cable end is placed in guide trough 106 and clamped in place by means of clamp 110. Tubular connectors 112 having diametrically opposed grooves 114 therein are placed over the bared ends of the conductors S and S with pins 80 being received in grooves 114. The corresponding conductor ends of the other cable end are then inserted into the respective connectors 112 and clamped in place in the other cable trough 106. If the ground conductors W are rectangular they are secured together by means of a connector 1 16 which is positioned in the groove 86 of bottom die 82 with its base 1168 at the bottom. The ends of ground wires or conductors.

W are then inserted in the connector 116 and the long leg of the connector is bent over the short leg. The upper housing 34 is then closed and the pin 44 inserted to lock the upper and lower housings together.'Fluid is then introduced into the bottom of cylinder 22 and the rod 24 will move vertically so as to bring the top and bottom dies together and crimp the connectors on the conductors and ground wire. The pressure is preferably applied by a hand operated airpump or compressor and a pressure release valve (not shown) is provided to prevent over or under crimping. The pin 44 is then removed and the top housing 34 rotated to its open position. After the clamps 110 are released the connected cables are removed and the splices completed by insulating the individual conductors and placing a jacket around the assembled conductors. When splicing cables of other sizes, shapes and/or construction the dies and die blocks can be readily removed and replaced by other dies and die blocks designed for the particular cable. If the cable does not have'a 'ground conductor the middle, upper and lower dies are omitted. We have found that it is desirable to have the dies arranged at an angle'of less than 90 to the longitudinal axis of the housing and pins 42 and 44 as shown rather than having them parallel to the longitudinal axis. It is preferred that the angle be not less than 80. This arrangement facilitates assembly of the connectors on the conductors.

While one embodiment .of ,our invention has been shown and described, it will be apparent that other adaptations and modifications may be made without departing from the scope of the following claims.

'7 We claim: 7

1. Apparatus for simultaneously securing connectors I around matching ends of two conductors and a rectan- 'gular ground of two cables each having its ground between its two conductors which comprises a table top, a bottom housing secured to and extending above said table top, a top housing pivotally secured to said to housing for movement about a generally horizontal axis, a generally vertical fluid cylinder secured to said bottom housing and extending downwardly below said table top, a piston rod in said cylinder extending upwardly therefrom, a horizontal pressure plate secured to the top of said piston rod, a bottom die retainer mounted on said pressure plate, means detachably securing said bottom die retainer to said pressure plate, three transverse slots in the top'of said bottom die retainer arranged at an angle of less than 90 to the longitudinal axis of the housings, a bottom ground die detachably secured in the central slot, said bottom ground die having a longitudinal groove in the top thereof, a bottom conductor die detachably secured in each of the other two slots, each conductor die including two longitudinally spaced apart lugs each with a longitudinal groove in the top thereof and a pair of transversely spaced apart generally vertical pins between said lugs for positioning in grooves in the outside of the conductor connectors, a top die retainer mounted in said top housing, means detachably securing said top die retainer to said top housing, three transverse slots in the bottom of said top die retainer aligned with the three I transverse slots in the bottom die retainer, a top ground die detachably secured in the central slot of the top die retainer, said top ground die having a downward projection of such width as to be received in the bottom ground die groove and an arcuate longitudinal groove in the bottom of said projection, a top conductor die detachably secured in each of the other two slots of said top die retainer, each of said top conductor dies including two longitudinally spaced apart lugs each with a longitudinal groove in the bottom thereof, means for locking said housings together, a cable guide at each end of said bottom housing, and a cable clamp associated with each guide.

2. Apparatus for simultaneously securing connectors around matching ends of two conductors of two multiconductor cables which comprises a table top, a bottom housing secured to and extending above said table top, a top housing pivotally secured to said bottom housing for movement about a generally horizontal axis, a horizontal pressure plate mounted for movement in said bottom housing, a bottom die retainer mounted on I said pressure plate, two bottom dies mounted on said bottom die retainer, a top die retainer mounted in said top housing, two top dies mounted on said top die retainer, clamping means for holding the cable ends in spaced apart relationship and in axial alignment, said dies being disposed in said die retainers to provide longitudinal spacing between connections and with the dies for each connection equally displaced a small amount outwardly from, and aligned at a small angle to, the axial alignment, and means connected to said pressure plate for moving said pressure plate upwardly for effecting the connections thereby providing conductors of equal length. g

3. Apparatus according to claim 2 in which said conductors are round andthe connection is effected by crimping at each end of a tubular connector into which theconductor ends havebeen placed in abutting rela- "includes a rectangular ground conductor between said two conductors, which includes a bottom ground die mounted on the bottom die retainer between said two bottom dies, said bottom ground die having a longitudinal groove therein of a width to receive a formed flat connector surrounding the ground conductor ends in lapping relationship, a top ground die mounted on the top die retainer between said two top dies, and said top I ground die having a downward projection of such width as to bereceived in the bottom ground die groove and an arcuate groove in the bottom of said projection.

- a v j 

1. Apparatus for simultaneously securing connectors around matching ends of two conductors and a rectangular ground of two cables each having its ground between its two conductors which comprises a table top, a bottom housing secured to and extending above said table top, a top housing pivotally secured to said to housing for movement about a generally horizontal axis, a generally vertical fluid cylinder secured to said bottom housing and extending downwardly below said table top, a piston rod in said cylinder extending upwardly therefrom, a horizontal pressure plate secured to the top of said piston rod, a bottom die retainer mounted on said pressure plate, means detachably securing said bottom die retainer to said pressure plate, three transverse slots in the top of said bottom die retainer arranged at an angle of less than 90* to the longitudinal axis of the housings, a bottom ground die detachably secured in the central slot, said bottom ground die having a longitudinal groove in the top thereof, a bottom conductor die detachably secured in each of the other two slots, each conductor die including two longitudinally spaced apart lugs each with a longitudinal groove in tHe top thereof and a pair of transversely spaced apart generally vertical pins between said lugs for positioning in grooves in the outside of the conductor connectors, a top die retainer mounted in said top housing, means detachably securing said top die retainer to said top housing, three transverse slots in the bottom of said top die retainer aligned with the three transverse slots in the bottom die retainer, a top ground die detachably secured in the central slot of the top die retainer, said top ground die having a downward projection of such width as to be received in the bottom ground die groove and an arcuate longitudinal groove in the bottom of said projection, a top conductor die detachably secured in each of the other two slots of said top die retainer, each of said top conductor dies including two longitudinally spaced apart lugs each with a longitudinal groove in the bottom thereof, means for locking said housings together, a cable guide at each end of said bottom housing, and a cable clamp associated with each guide.
 2. Apparatus for simultaneously securing connectors around matching ends of two conductors of two multi-conductor cables which comprises a table top, a bottom housing secured to and extending above said table top, a top housing pivotally secured to said bottom housing for movement about a generally horizontal axis, a horizontal pressure plate mounted for movement in said bottom housing, a bottom die retainer mounted on said pressure plate, two bottom dies mounted on said bottom die retainer, a top die retainer mounted in said top housing, two top dies mounted on said top die retainer, clamping means for holding the cable ends in spaced apart relationship and in axial alignment, said dies being disposed in said die retainers to provide longitudinal spacing between connections and with the dies for each connection equally displaced a small amount outwardly from, and aligned at a small angle to, the axial alignment, and means connected to said pressure plate for moving said pressure plate upwardly for effecting the connections thereby providing conductors of equal length.
 3. Apparatus according to claim 2 in which said conductors are round and the connection is effected by crimping at each end of a tubular connector into which the conductor ends have been placed in abutting relationship and each of said dies include two longitudinally spaced apart lugs each with a longitudinal groove in the top thereof and a pair of transversely spaced apart generally vertical pins between said lugs for positioning in grooves in the outside of the tubular connectors.
 4. Apparatus according to claim 3, for a cable which includes a rectangular ground conductor between said two conductors, which includes a bottom ground die mounted on the bottom die retainer between said two bottom dies, said bottom ground die having a longitudinal groove therein of a width to receive a formed flat connector surrounding the ground conductor ends in lapping relationship, a top ground die mounted on the top die retainer between said two top dies, and said top ground die having a downward projection of such width as to be received in the bottom ground die groove and an arcuate groove in the bottom of said projection. 